Spanish America (Vol.1&2). Sir Richard Henry Bonnycastle
of the four periods of thirteen years each.
Cacao nuts were the monies of the people of Anahuac; and, for large purchases, were made up in bags, each bag passing for a certain sum. (In Mexico, the poor people still make use of these nuts, to purchase articles at market.) Very few remains of the Mexican structures exist; but Cortez asserted, that the great temple of Mexitli, occupied a space, in which five hundred houses might have stood. It appears, that the habitations of the Mexicans were rudely constructed, and ill contrived. The ancient city stood nearly where the present stands; though the waters of the lake have receded, owing to a drain having been formerly cut, to carry off some superabundant water. Its scite was on some islands on the west side of Lake Tezcuco, north of its junction with Lake Chalco, accessible on the west side only, by three large causeways, thirty feet broad, of earth and stone; the lake covering the other sides. It is asserted, that the circumference of the city was ten miles, and that it contained 60,000 houses. It was divided into four quarters, which had four broad roads leading from the four gates of the great temple; a fifth quarter was added, when the city of Tlatelolco was taken, and the city was intersected by canals in every direction.
It contained many temples and palaces, the better kind of which had parapets and balconies; and many had even towers for defence. The largest square was that of Tlatelolco, where the great market was held, large enough to contain 40,000 people; and the city had fountains and reservoirs for fish, with beautiful gardens and terraces. The population was immense, but no just account has been given of it.
The Mexicans were a sanguinary people. The human beings they sacrificed on the altars of their gods were innumerable; they laid the body on the altar, cut the breast open, and took out the panting heart to satisfy their chief deity. The priests practised all sorts of austerities; puncturing their bodies with the spines of aloes, and mangling their flesh; after which they bathed in a sacred pond, which was tinged with the blood of these self-tormentors.
The dress of the Mexicans consisted, in the higher ranks, of fine cotton, dyed in fanciful colours, interwoven with hair and feathers, and painted with curious figures; they wore two or three mantles, one above another, the longest undermost, so that each might be visible. Their shoes were mere sandals of leather, or coarse fibrous cloth, tied with ribbands; the rich people adorning them with precious stones, &c. Their hair was worn long; the women allowed it to fall naturally in tresses; the men tied it up, and adorned it with feathers and jewels. They wore ear-rings, pendants from the upper lip, as well as the nose; necklaces, bracelets on the wrists and arms, and round their legs. Those of the rich were of gold, pearls and gems; the poorer sort wore crystal, amber and shells, and their habits were made of the thread of the mountain-palm or coarse cotton. They used the pulp of a fruit, and a root, for soap, to wash their cotton garments.
Having traced the Mexican people, from the earliest known period of their history, to the conquest by Cortez, it is now time to recur to the actual situation of the country.
The climate of Mexico Proper varies according to the situation of the districts; its sea coast is hot and unhealthy, the plains are temperate and salubrious, and the high land cold and barren. Earthquakes and dreadful thunder storms are common. This province abounds in mountains; their principal summits have been described under the general head of New Spain; four of them are within a short distance of the capital; these mountains abound in ores and fossils, and are in general covered with thick forests, and, in their upper regions, with snow. Some large rivers run from them into the two oceans. They occasionally furnish precious stones and marbles for sculpture, as well as different kinds of stone for building. Mexico is cultivated with the lemon, orange, citron, cocoa, and plantain trees, vanilla, chili, or long-pepper, achiote, cotton, indigo, pimento, wheat, maize, barley, rice, pease, beans, and all sorts of European vegetables and fruits; also the plants useful in forming drugs, resins, gums, oils, as well as for their fruit, flowers, and roots, which are indigenous, have been enumerated as exceeding one thousand.
The trees which afford timber in this province, are of every variety. Tigers, wild cats, or loupcerviers, wolves, bears, foxes, deer, goats, badgers, weazels, polecats, martins, squirrels, rabbits, otters, and rats, are common in the forests, and usual haunts of the respective species. The cojotl, the tlacojotl, and three other species similar to dogs; the wild cat, called ocotochtli; the cajopollin, resembling a mouse; the tozan, a similar animal; the porcupine and ahuitzotl, an amphibious creature; the mitzli, a sort of lion, without long hair; the polutaca, a flying rat; the Mexican hog, the opossum, the armadillo, the tapir, racoons, monkeys, and apes, are amongst the most noted animals of Mexico, and the adjacent regions.
The birds of Mexico are numerous, and celebrated for the variety and splendour of their plumage. Eagles, falcons, hawks, ravens of two or three different kinds, of which one never touches carrion, but subsists on corn; and another which follows the alligator, and destroys her eggs; ducks, geese, swans, herons, quails, divers, king-fishers, pelicans, pheasants, pea-hens, the mocking bird, cardinals, humming bird, &c. &c. It would occupy a volume to describe their peculiarities as well as their number. Mexico has indeed been called the country of birds, celebrated for their song, their beauty, and for their feathers, of which the Mexican pictures were executed, and which had all the softness and brilliancy of oil colours, and were so skilfully done, as to be distinguished only by the touch; they having had the art of flattening them, in such a manner, as to give them an appearance of the finest painting.
The reptiles are numerous; the cayman, or alligator, being nearly as formidable in appearance as the Egyptian crocodile. The serpents in the forests and marshes attain an enormous size, but are rarely found in the inhabited districts. The lizard tribe, from the cayman down to the water lizard, are very numerous. The rattle snake, cenocoatl, or phosphorescent snake, are the most venomous; and there are many harmless snakes, who devour the ants and other insects. Edible frogs, of three species, which attain a great size, are found in Lake Chalco and are eaten at Mexico. The rivers and lakes abound with fish, as do the seas which bound the province. Turtles are a principal article of food; lobsters, and other crustaceous animals also abound; and upwards of one hundred kinds of nutritious fish, have been enumerated as used by the inhabitants. Sharks of great voracity are found on the coasts; and the almost tepid water of the Mexican gulf, seems highly natural for the production of the large aquatic animals. Beautiful shells are collected on the shores, and sponges and lithophytes are produced in great variety. The insect tribe, terrestrial, aquatic, and atmospherical, are more numerous than can be conceived; of these, the scolopendras, ants, scorpions, spiders of great size, are all dreadful and venomous; hornets, wasps, bees, &c. common, and the fire-fly and lanthorn beetle, are singular and innumerable; indeed, the whole continent of America seems to be amply furnished with luminous insects, which are not to be found in Europe. A large fly, which is produced near the Mexican lake, lays innumerable eggs on the flags which border the shores; these eggs are collected by the natives, and made into a sort of paste for sale in the market, where it is eagerly purchased for food, and is said to resemble caviare.
Mosquitoes and venomous gnats occupy the air in clouds, and are extremely tormenting, sometimes causing inflammatory appearances on the bitten parts, which become dangerous. The capital, though on a lake, is however free from these pests, probably owing to the circumambient atmosphere being charged with smoke; the smoke or vapour of wood fires being destructive to these insects. Thus many towns in North America are free from mosquitoes, whilst, if you step across their boundaries, these insects immediately assail you, and it is remarkable, that they are more troublesome to strangers than to the natives. Butterflies of every beautiful and elegant variety are natives of the Mexican forests and fields, and form rich articles in the collections of the virtuosi. A species of locust sometimes destroys the rising vegetables, and great distress is felt from their ravages. A species of the tique or tick is as troublesome as the chigoe, or jigger of the West Indies. Many of the insect tribe, after being reduced to powder, and made into paste, are eaten by the natives, as they were also before the conquest.
The silk-worms of Mexico are in a state of nature; but produce a beautiful and strong cocoon. The cochineal insect forms one of the principal articles of Mexican commerce; and great pains are taken in rearing it.
The mineral productions, are gold, silver, copper, tin, the mines of which are near the capital; lead, iron, quicksilver, sulphur, alum, vitriol, cinnabar,